Contact device



M. R. JULIAN.

CONTACT DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2.1919.

amwwboz 'ruF. uniam I'LANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, l) c.

MARSENA R. JULIAN, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

CONTACT DEVICE.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 14, 1919.

Application filed June 2, 1919. Serial No. 301,313.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it, known that I, MARSENA R. J ULIAN, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Birmingham, in the county. of Jeflerson and State ofv Alabama, have invented a new and Improved Contact Device, of which the following is a specification.

- This invention relates to devices adapted to be mounted on railway vehicles and adapted to engage ramps beside the railway track in order to receive electricv currents from the ramps and to beactuated by said ramps .to open normally closed or close normally open circuits, depending on the character of the system of which saidcontact devices form apart, one of such systems bein shown by Patent No. 1,297,324, granted llIarch 1S, 1919, to Clark and Hovey. r

This invention consists in a case and a contact member movably mounted therein and connected to means for closing an electric circuit which may be opened by means of a afety elementwhich is so positioned that should the contact, member be bent, the safety element will permit the electric circuit to be opened. It also consists in a shoe forming the lower end of the contact,

member, which shoe is provided with a scraper to remove the ice or snow which may be on the ramp adjacent the rails with which this shoe is to engage. It further consist in the details of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is an elevation of this improved contact mechanism, the front of the case being broken away. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

The present contact device is a part of a railway train control system and is mounted on the locomotive or other vehicle of a railway train and receives controlling currents from ramps placed adjacent the rails, such currents varying according to the condi tion of the track in advance of the individual ramps. The contact device also opens an electric circuit to a holding relay whenever it passes over a ramp so that the controlling mechanism may be aifected by the electric currents received from the ramps. It is usual in systems of this character for a holding relay to attract and hold armatures during normal conditions and it is one adjustment.

of the objects of this invention to open-the circuit to this holding, relay when the contact device becomes injured or gets out of The case l may be of any desired size and in 1t are pivots 2 for the links 3 which .carry the stem 4 by means of the pins 5.

A hook 6 on the stem and a second hook 7 on the case ard connected by the spring 8 which. normally holds the stem 4 down with 1ts boss 9 in engagement with theb'ottom 10 of the case. In order that the case may not fill with ice and snow which might prevent proper operation, a steam heated coil .11, maybe mounted therein. This case may be termed the support for the mechanism mounted I therein.

At the lower end of thestem 4 and insulated therefrom is pivoted a shoe 12 which connects to the selective mechanism of the control system by means of a wire 13. At the front end of the shoe is a knife or. scraper 14 which is so positioned that it will engage the ramp 15 and although the shoe 1 2 may be tilted on its pivot 16, the knife will still engage the ramp and free it from ice and snow, leaving a metal surface to be engaged by the shoe to receive current from the ramp.

A battery 17 may be mounted on the vehicle and connect to the stationary electric contact 18 within the case 1 by means of a wire 19. An electric contact 20 normally moving with the stem 4 connects to a holding relay 22 by means of a wire 23 and this relay connects to the battery by means of wire 24, armature 25 and wire 26. These two contacts 18 and 20 constitute a switch controlled 'by the stem. Whenever the shoe 12 slides up over the ramp 15, the contacts 18 and 20 will be disengaged to open the switch and the relay 22 will become deenergized to permit other and selective instrumentalities to become effective by reason of current received from the ramp through the shoe 12 and wire 13.

After the shoe has left the ramp, the stem 4 falls and the switch controlled thereby is closed to restore the circuit to the relay which thereafter holds the control mechanism in the selected positions. The train control mechanism therefore remains locked until the stem 4 is again lifted by a ramp.

In the event the stem 4 should be bent in toward the vehicle or out so that it would not engage the ramp, the holding relay 22 would no longer be released at the desired point, usually the beginning of a block of the track, and the proper current received by the ramp over wires 28 and 29 would not pass to the controlling device on the vehicle. To prevent accidents, I attach the contact 20 of the switch to the end of the spring 80 which is connected to the upper link 3 and flexed by being connected to the upper end of the rod 32 of glass, porcelain, burnt clay or other fragile material. The lower port-ion of this fragile rod is connected to the lower end of the stem 4 by means of a clamp 33 and the end of this stem extends into a recess in the shoe 12. If now the stem receives such a blow that it becomes bent in any manner, the rod 32 will be shattered and the up per end thereof released from the clamp 33 so that the spring may snap up to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, opening the switch and breaking the circuit to the relay 22.

The details and proportions of this contact mechanism may all be changed by signal engineers without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim 2- 1. In a contact device for railway vehicles, the combination of asupport a stem mounted thereon, and a switch normally closed thereby, said switch embodying a fragile member which will permit the switch to open when said fragile member is broken.

2. In a contact device for railway vehicles, the combination of a support, a stem mounted thereon, a switch contact mounted on the support, a second switch contact, and a fragile connector between the second switch contact and the stem adapted to be broken to release the contact when the stem is injured.

3. In a contact device for railway vehicles, the combination of a case, a pair of links pivotally mounted therein, a stem carried by said links, and a shoe pivotally mounted at the lower end of said stem and having a contact portion insulated from said stem.

4. In a contact device for railway vehicles, the combination of a case, a pair of links pivotally mounted therein, a stem carried by said links, a springto normally hold down the stem, and a steam heated coil to warm the interior of the. case.

5. In a contact device for railway vehicles, the combination of a support, a pair of links pivotally mounted on the support, a stem carried by said links, a switch contact and a resilient carrying means therefor mounted on one of the links, a fragile connector mounted on the stem to hold the switch contact in engaging position, and a second spring contact mounted on the support and adapted to be engaged by the first while the fragile connector (remains unbroken.

MARSEN A R. JULIAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

